


Just. Drive

by st_ivalice



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Squished into a car
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 04:24:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13605471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_ivalice/pseuds/st_ivalice
Summary: Gladio knew they should have looked at the other hunts, should have known a behemoth was lurking in the caves south of them. Because the herd of garula they were hunting was already on edge, and their chocobos caught the scent of it, dashing back into town. All it took was Prompto to step on a dry branch to spook the herd.





	Just. Drive

From the start, this hunt was all kinds of wrong; the one they wanted was turned in five minutes after they signed up for it, the Regalia was still missing, and it was already late in the afternoon.

Still, Noctis and Prompto were not dissuaded and confident they could get this lower level hunt done in no time. _‘Piece o’Cake’_ as Prompto had said, Noctis just as pumped—an uncommon occurrence. And maybe he and Ignis were too soft on them, let the excitement and challenge cloud their judgment and logic. Ignis had agreed that should everything go right, they should be back in time as the sun set. And he had agreed that should anything go wrong, they could just drop it and hightail it outta there. They had the chocobos, lots of curatives, they knew the general area it was in. Shouldn’t be a problem.

Gladio knew they should have looked at the other hunts, should have known a behemoth was lurking in the caves south of them. Because the herd of garula they were hunting was already on edge, and their chocobos caught the scent of it, dashing back into town.

All it took was Prompto to step on a dry branch to spook the herd.

Gladio gritted his teeth. “Shit! Run!”

All the training in the world didn’t prepare someone to recall all the lessons on fauna of Lucis when twenty walls of tusks and meat were on your tail. Still, he forced himself to remember. Garulas ran in a straight line right? So they had to cut across. Or Fuck! Were those Spiracorns? One of those ran in zigzag—he was pretty sure it was spiracorns—but garula alpha herds ran differently than betas and that kind of assessment was long gone. Only the most ingrained training he ever needed kicked in and that was protecting Noctis. He was keeping pace with him out of the corner of his eye and he also tracked Prompto ahead of them, Iggy flanking Noctis on the other side. So far so good.

“Cut across!” He yelled, not even Noctis hearing him above the thunderous hooves. **Fuck**. Prompto wouldn’t hear him. The kid panicked sometimes, and he didn’t blame him and his lack of formal training, but he was really hoping this was not one of those times. Nope, not on his watch. They were getting out of this safely, all of them, even if they were all running into an area they were not familiar with.

Up ahead, he saw Prompto dart across, waving them. “C’Mon!” Noctis and Ignis saw him too and they all cut across the herd to a clearing. Even after they cleared it, they still kept running, trying to put as much distance between them, until all they could hear were the pounding of their hearts over the pounding of hooves.

Gladio slowed to a jog, his breath in pants. “Everybody okay?”

Prompto collapsed on the ground. “I think…” he panted, “My heart stopped.”

“That was a close one,” Noctis said, his arms resting on his head. “Oh man.”

Doubled over, Ignis rested his hands on his knees, catching his breath. “Indeed. And perhaps we’re farther from town without transportation.”

“I’ll try and call the chocobos,” Noctis brought up.

Gladio watched him dig around in his pockets then try and summon the whistle to no avail. “It’s probably crushed somewhere on the plains by now.”

“Just our luck,” Ignis said, surveying the area and the height of the sun.

Prompto sat up. “Sorry guys.”

Gladio shook his head and shrugged. “It’s not your fault. This kind of shit happens. Outside the wall, we can’t predict anything,” he said even while he made eye contact with Ignis. They should have and _did_ predict this. Technically, this was _their_ fault. Some Shield and Advisor they were.

“Yeah, it’s kinda my fault though,” Noctis said, and Gladio saw that he was observing the interaction between him and Ignis. “I thought we could do it. I mean, we _have_ done it in the past. But I should have supported you and Ignis’ qualms.”

Ignis raised his eyebrows, impressed, and peered at Gladio, the corner of his mouth quirking before it disappeared. “No use thinking what we should have done, but thank-you, Highness. Perhaps we can all learn from this.”

Noctis ducked his head, embarrassed. “Yeah, well, Specs, you’re my advisor.” He finally plopped down on the ground as well and worked at his knee.

Gladio frowned. That run must have done a number on his knee. He hated that he could already see how the Crystal took its toll on Noctis and he’s only been using it for four years. He could joke about the naps and the sleep-ins, but when he saw the other physical aspects of it, it rubbed him the wrong way. His dad had warned him about it but it still hurt to see his friend in pain and he couldn’t do anything to alleviate it. So he averted his gaze and took to looking at the area they were in and maybe finding a way back to town.

They probably ran about a quarter mile? Maybe a third. If the sun was to their right, then the herd was running north, towards the rock formations in the distance. He could still hear them. To the east were the grassy plains, to the south yet even more plains, and to the west were some trees, smaller rocks and—

“Hey is that a truck!” Prompto yelled, back on his feet.

Astrals be damned, it was. It was about twenty yards away behind some bushes, and they all started heading to it.

“Oh man, maybe our luck is making a turn!”

“Dude, you really think there’s just a working truck out in the middle of nowhere?” Noctis said.

Prompto shrugged. “What about all those vendor cargo trucks they had us look for? Perfectly good vehicles just swarmed with baddies.”

“Yeah, so don’t let your guard down,” Gladio said. They just escaped being flattened. He was not about to let them get blindsided by a bunch of bees. Or a pack of sabertusks.

As they got closer, he could see the truck in better view. It was an old one, not like the ones they found previously, but both tires on the side facing them were still full, the grass under it wasn’t tall and there were tire tracks running up to it. Not recent, but also not months gone. There was a good chance this truck could run.

“I think you might be on to something, Prompto.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Ignis chimed.

“If we aren’t as lucky as we think we are, think you could get it running?” Gladio mused. None of them had any sort of automotive expertise, not cars at least, and it was too late to call Hammerhead.

“The question is once its running, can I drive it?”

“You drive manual.” They all did, except Prompto. Although he would probably beg to differ and insist he doesn’t know when to downshift, which, half-proficiency doesn’t count.

“In theory,” he said so only he heard. “We drive _Lucian_ manual transmission. Not Imperial. This looks like an old Thorston model.”

Shit, he forgot about that. Still, Ignis was their best driver, and also the most skilled. He was pretty confident in his ability. And not because he was his best friend. “I have complete faith in you, Iggy.”

Ignis glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “No promises,” he said, that quirk about his mouth returning.

Prompto dashed the last couple of yards and peered into the gritty passenger window. “Looks pretty good, actually,” he said, and opened the door. “And only smells _slightly_ like cigars and old vegetables. Sorry, Noct.”

Noctis shrugged. “Beggers can’t be choosers. I’ll hold my breath.”

“And it’s a bench seat so we can all fit nice and _snug._ ”

“Is there a stick in the middle?” Gladio asked, walking around to the driver’s side with Ignis.

“Huh? A stick? Oh yeah, there’s one. Dude this thing is a relic! I’ve only read about these.”

The driver’s side opened up fairly easily and the tires on this side were full too. “No way of knowing if this has gas or if it even runs.” Gladio got in the driver’s seat, and Ignis leaned on the door. “Key’s still in the ignition. Not a lot of legroom though.”

“Uh, question? Who would just abandon this car out here with the keys and everything?”

“Who cares?” Noctis said, sliding in. “They’re long gone.”

“What if they turned into a daemon? Or they went out to take a leak and a monster got them? Or what if this is a trap?”

Ignis looked pointedly at Noctis. “Then Lucis’ only hope just slid right into it.”

“Alright,” Gladio said, “Let’s see if she starts.” He tried the ignition and nothing. A couple coughs.

“Well that’s disappointing,” Prompto sighed.

“We got a spark though.”

“Gear’s in neutral?”

Gladio shook the shift knob substantially to demonstrate.

“Have you tried the clutch?” Ignis added, a smirk on his lips and Gladio scrunched his nose, trying the startup again with the pedal pressed. This time the truck actually sounded like it had something.

“Do you think it might be outta gas?” Gladio asked.

“Could be the radiator,” Ignis said, heading to the front and lifting the hood.

“How’s she look?”

“Surprisingly well. Keep trying.”

While Noctis and Prompto busied themselves with their phones, he kept at it, and by the fourth time, actually got it running. He tried revving it a bit before it stalled.

“Huh,” he said to himself. It’s been a long while since his dad let him practice on his grandfather’s old Augustine back in the city.

Noctis slouched in his seat, sighing and returning to his phone.

Ignis popped his head over the hood again. “Was that you or did it stall by itself?”

“Me. Gotta feed more gas than clutch. Try it one more time, huh? I think I got a feel for her.”

This time, he turned the key and found that sweet spot between the pedals. “Yeeeah!” Gladio glanced at the dashboard and all the needles rising. “We’ve got half a tank too!”

Prompto slid in next to Noctis. “Woo hoo! We’re outta here!”

Oil and heat looked good, but then the truck shuddered and let out a squeal that sounded like the fan belt. Just their luck to have a truck with decent tires, half a tank of gas and a broken fan belt. He wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why it was out here.

“Whoa, rattling quite a bit though. Still holding up, Iggy?” he yelled.

Ignis yelled something but he couldn’t hear.

“What’s that?”

Ignis appeared at the window. “I need to adjust the belt. It’s rubbing up along the grill. Quick fix.”

“You want me to turn it off?”

“No, keep it running. With our luck being what it is, it might not start again.”

“Well don’t jinx us.” Gladio said, garnering an eye roll, but that smile appeared again; the one Iggy reserved just for him.

“ _You’re_ the one behind the wheel.”

Despite the circumstance, he was pretty sure that constituted as flirting, something that was happening more and more. Ignis was his best friend, but there was a certain camaraderie that came with their duty to Noctis and the throne, and a certain distance they had to maintain. Gladio would definitely admit that he was attracted to Ignis, and he had a strong feeling Ignis more or less felt the same way but their duties only intensified as they got older, enough to accept that maybe nothing would ever really come of it. But then the City fell and they really only had each other to rely on and maybe the resurgence of their flirtation was to offset the grief or a bold realization that life was too short to waste. Maybe both.

Either way, Ignis found a rag of some sort in the bed of the truck, deemed it suitable to separate the grill from the engine, and decided he needed to lean over in such a way to fix it that the curve of his perfect ass was right in his view. _Nice._ With Ignis, everything was calculated, and it wasn’t lost on him that perhaps he did so on purpose.

The imagery of Ignis and any car was always a favorite and he knew he definitely wouldn’t stop thinking about that any time soon. Reluctantly, he looked away, busying himself before he thought _too_ much on it, adjusting the rear view mirror and acquainting himself with the vehicle. Maybe he’d give it a shot and give Ignis a break from driving. He gripped the gear shift knob to get a feel for the transmission, wiggled it a bit. The vibration was pretty bad and seemed like it was getting worse.

Noctis sat up, looking up from his phone. “Do you hear that?”

Gladio strained, but the truck was pretty noisy, especially with the hood up.

Prompto had a far off look. “Yeah, it sounds kinda low. Like, the truck is higher, but this is…” He stepped out of the truck and listened for a second before popping his head back in a couple times. “Yeah it’s not the truck. Getting louder though.”

He listened again; it sounded like thunder or…Gladio glanced at the ground outside, at the leaves, at the rocks starting to shake on the ground and suddenly at the forefront of his mind, he recalled the other crucial part of Garulas: herds change direction when they hit a dead end. If they hit those rock formations to the north, then hit another to the west—

Ignis seemed to come to same realization as him because he stood up, alert, and gazed back at him.

“Iggy, get inside!”

He nodded.

Gladio turned to Prompto. “Get inside and shut the door.” Prompto was already sliding in and closing it.

“What is it?”

He gripped the wheel tighter. “It’s the fucking herd again.” Ignis was still outside of the vehicle, still working on adjusting the belt, and in just the few seconds, the pounding intensified.

“ _Iggy,_ ” he yelled, worried. He could see the dust cloud now.

“Ohmygodthey’reheadingrightforus.”

“Should we maybe go now? Like _right now_ ,” Noctis said, gripping the dashboard. “ **Gladio.** ”

He pushed aside Noctis and Prompto’s fear and brought to the forefront that Ignis still didn’t have his damn ass inside this truck.

“ **Ignis!** “

Finally, Ignis closed the hood and moved to the driver side, ready to close the door.

“Hurry.” He could just climb over them, really no time for anything else.

Instead, he didn’t budge and said firmly, “I’m driving.”

“I’m already—”

“—Please, not now,” he said, hand already taking the wheel.

He huffed noisily but started to slide over. No time for arguing. Sliding over was a bit of a challenge because Ignis was already in, and Gladio had to lift up a leg to get it on the other side of the shift knob. Noctis tried his best to give him more space.

“No more room, dude!” Prompto squealed, pushed up against the passenger side door.

“It’s get flattened by me, or flattened by garulas.”

As soon as he settled, the shift knob between his legs and very bent knees, Ignis deactivated the emergency brake under the steering wheel.

“Here we go,” Ignis said, then realized that he had to reach over Gladio’s leg to reach the knob. There was no way around it. Ignis had to basically rest his arm over his crotch to drive.

Gladio gritted his teeth. “Just. Drive.” Now that the hood was down, he could see the quickly approaching herd, maybe twenty seconds away. And several trees straight up uprooted like pencils. “Get us out of here."

Ignis nodded and put it into first gear, careful to keep his arm away.

“More gas than clutch. Slowly,” he offered. For a second the truck shuddered in a way that threatened to stall, but then they shot forward and took off. He figured Ignis would reverse after a moment, or even make a last minute turn, but then he realized, as Ignis brought it into second and picked up speed, he was heading straight into the herd.

“Are we—?” Noctis asked.

“—No freaking way—“

“ _Iggy_ —“

“— **Hang on!** ”

In the bumpy, cramped cab, they had about three seconds to prepare. Gladio already had his left arm uncomfortably up to give Ignis room to shift and he braced himself with the other against the dash board. Beside him, Noctis gripped the seats and Prompto held on to the handle near the window.

Ignis looked forward, the epitome of concentration and calm, but Gladio knew better. His grip on the steering wheel was tight and his brow was furrowed. His ideas were always sound and calculated, and Gladio thought this plan was actually pretty brilliant, even though his knuckles were white. In the truck they were large enough to be sensed by the garula. Herds ran in a straight line, but they also possessed sensory organs that steered them slightly out of the way, _if_ they were large enough. The flattened trees they saw earlier weren’t that reassuring, however.

Spotting an opening, Ignis steered straight into it.

They hit the dust cloud, obscuring everything and they were completely reliant on the Garulas to dodge out of the way and Ignis’ reflexes. A second after they entered, they turned left, shifting all of them. Noctis groaned as he was smashed. Then a hard right, and Gladio was the meat shield to give Iggy the space he needed to drive.

Prompto yelled hoarsely, either from anxiety or excitement, “Dude! This is like that part in that space movie where they fly through the asteroid field to evade the empire! And then the gold robot tells them the severely outnumbered odds—“

“— _Not helping,_ ” Noctis gritted.

“It’s helping _me_. Nervous coping trivia outbursts—” He screamed. “Shitshit **shit!** ” A Garula sideswiped the passenger side door, caving it in. Prompto, true to his name, reflexively shot back from it and into Noctis’ lap.

“You alright?” Gladio yelled. That was a close one.

“We’re fine,” Noctis answered, pushing Prompto off him.

“Yeah _you_ are, Mr. Safely In The Middle.”

“Just hang on,” he said, and Ignis brought the truck up to third, picking up speed as he found a rhythm in the herd to weave through. They were almost through.

“Oh man, if one of those hits us head on—“

“—That’s not going to happen,” Gladio reassured.

As if to ease them all, Ignis shifted into fourth gear. Gladio did not hide his displeasure at it though. Up until now, he’d been able to deal with the arrangement of his hand rubbing up against his dick, mostly drowned out by the adrenaline, but the fourth gear position dropped uncomfortably on him and he felt all the vibrations of the truck. Ignis, perceptive as he was, made to downshift, but as he grabbed the knob, his knuckles brushed against his balls and he readjusted his grip. The gear shift didn’t budge and the truck started to protest. Ignis tried again, struggling, and Gladio covered his hand over the knob and helped him jam it back to third.

“We’re almost through,” Ignis said. Everyone’s attention remained on the herd and the close calls that he saved them from. With one last dodge, Ignis turned sharply and they broke free of the cover of dust and the herd.

Gladio released a breath he forgot he was holding and Prompto sighed shakily, still gripping his seat. “Wow. That was… _amazing_ , Ignis.”

Noctis ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign he was downplaying his nerves. “Yeah, Specs, it was. But please don’t ever do that again.”

Sitting back, Prompto nodded. “I don’t think our hearts can take it.” As if on cue, the truck shuddered slightly, and Ignis gave it more gas. “You think after all that, the truck can handle us getting back to town?”

Ignis nodded. “We’ll take her as far she goes.”

Prompto chewed his lower lip. “Let’s hope she goes all the way!”

“Probably best not to stop then.” He peered sidelong at Gladio, indicating this arrangement of positions would go on for longer.

Acknowledging the implication, Gladio licked his lips and turned to the boys. “Check in the glove compartment for maps.” If Noctis and Prompto noticed how Iggy’s hand and wrist rested on his crotch and that he may or may not be half-hard, they wisely didn’t say anything. And if it stayed that way, that would be great too.

Prompto was the one who had more common sense how to open an old glove compartment, but he didn’t blame Noctis’ lack of riding in the passenger seat ever. Turns out their luck was still holding out. Two folded, faded maps were mixed in with some rusty tools.

“Whoa, this is _ancient_. There’s towns I’m pretty sure don’t exist anymore marked on here.”

“We don’t need towns. Just havens and landmarks.”

Peering closer at it, Prompto was in awe. “I think this might even be before the Crown City was walled off.”

Noctis laughed. “Hey Gladio, you think our dads and Cor used a map like this?”

“Huh. Probably. We could ask Cor the next time we see him.” It’d be interesting to compare the old maps with now and see what’s changed in thirty plus years.

The ride was still very bumpy and it was difficult to read the tiny, faded script.

“Here,” Noctis pointed, “That look like where we’re at? There’s like an L-formation of rocks, probably what the herd hit?”

“Hrmm, maybe.” He glanced at the horizon, trying to see other landmarks.

“Yeah,” Prompto chimed in, “‘Red Finger Bluff’ kind of looks like that hill over there.”

Ignis hummed. “I’d say it’s more like a hoof but it’s something.”

Gladio compared the rock formation in the distance with the map. “Yep. Head that way for maybe like, seven miles? Then we’ll head east to a road hopefully.”

“ _Hopefully_ ,” Noctis said, leaning back. “Wake me up when we get there.”

“Bro, are you seriously gonna nap?”

“You aren’t tired from all that excitement?”

“Well, yeah, but you didn’t even use that much magic.”

“Uh, _consciously_. I can’t control what I use when I’m anxious.”

Gladio rolled his eyes. “Maybe you _both_ need naps. It would make this ride more tolerable.” At the same time he said that, Ignis shifted into third, speeding up towards their goal, and he had to grit his teeth again. Speaking of _tolerating_.

Shrugging, Noctis rested his head on Prompto’s shoulder. “Alright, but _you_ said it, not me.”

Prompto shot a look at Gladio and he shot him back the expectant look he used to give Iris when she was little and wouldn’t take her naps. Sighing, he put the map down in his lap and leaned his head on the door and glanced out the window.

It was quiet, but Gladio heard the little snort that Ignis gave at the situation.

After about ten minutes, Ignis down-shifted into second as they headed into a patch of uneven ground, and he definitely grabbed the wrong thing at first. Gladio grunted, caught by surprise.

“Apologies,” Ignis said and moved his hand after shifting.

“No, just. Keep your hand there. I can feel it when you shift, it’s like nails on a chalkboard.” Ignis was used to cars that ran smoothly, were fine tuned, and engineered for perfection. He could understand those vehicles and how they felt, which was why he was struggling so much with this truck, but Gladio had some experience learning to drive an old relic. Yeah so maybe s _ome experience_ was like an afternoon when he was nineteen, but it was enough. “Keep it on second.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I swear I’m not trying to get off or anything. Gotta keep your hand on the knob. Get a feel for the engine, so you’ll know when to shift. That’s what my dad used to say at least. These older cars are temperamental.”

Ignis put his hand back on the shift knob, his wrist resting right on his cock.

Gladio laughed to ease the tension. “Heh. I don’t know what’s worst. You cranking out the transmission or you grabbing my dick every five seconds.”

“I sincerely apologize.”

“Sure you’re not doing it on purpose?”

This time, Ignis glanced at him and smirked. “If I was, it wouldn’t be like this.”

“How would it be then?”

“For starters, those two wouldn’t be here,” he nodded at the sleeping boys.

“Yeah, well, we can’t always be so lucky.” His left arm was getting tired from being held up and he brought it down awkwardly, trying to figure out where to rest it without being in Ignis’ way. “Mind if I put my arm behind you?”

“As long as you don’t mind where _my_ arm is.” Both hands on the wheel, Ignis leaned forward slightly to allow him room to rest his arm on the top of the seat and his shoulders.

Gladio was able to settle a bit more comfortably in the cramped quarters, slouching a bit.

“I think we’ve established that I do.”

In their new positions, Ignis settled back again, returning his hand once more to the shift knob, in the process, sliding back down to the memorized position, only since Gladio had slouched, his hand and arm slid along the length of him. Reflexively, he ground into it and gripped Ignis’ shoulder.

“ _Iggy,_ ” he groaned.

There was a light dusting of pink across his cheeks and he kept his eyes smartly on the road. “Again, apologies. That _was_ unintentional.” He licked his lips. “But I must say, I’m getting a better feel of the engine now.”


End file.
